Room to Grow
by heartlandwriters
Summary: This story is set during S12E11 "Room to Grow." One shot.


**A/N: This is set during the season 12 finale. I'm pretty sure we were meant to get one last Lou/Georgie scene in [12.11] but for some reason it didn't make it into the episode, so I wanted to just write a little something.**

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Knocking on Georgie's door, Lou waited for her daughter to invite her in.

"Come in!" Georgie called out from the other side of the door.

Lou opened the door, stepping inside. "Hey."

As she turned in her chair, Georgie's mouth formed a small smile. "Hey."

"So, I thought I would check in with you." Lou walked over to the foot of Georgie's bed and sat down on the metal trunk. She placed the little box she was carrying behind her.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, about the camp."

"Well, what about it?"

"Have you decided whether or not you're going?" Lou asked carefully.

Georgie pursed her lips. "Oh, I don't know…it's weird. I do want to go, but it's all so terrifying. What if I can't handle it and I just end up messing everything up? I've done a whole lot of that already."

"Hey, what happened this year…it was because you were under the wrong sort of pressure. You thought that you had to win shows and make it to Europe for…" Lou trailed off, exhaling. She didn't want to say the wrong thing to Georgie. "You thought that you had to please everyone around you, and you didn't want to let anyone down."

Georgie looked at Lou, wondering where her mother was headed with this train of thought.

"But…now you know that whatever it is that you're doing, it's for _you_. Right? Your dad and I are always going to be proud of you. It doesn't matter to us if you're winning ribbons or not, going to this camp or not. We just want you to be happy. So if you go, just know that you're doing it for you. Not for anybody else."

Georgie sighed in relief. "Yeah?"

"Yes, of course."

"Okay, okay…" Georgie trailed off, contemplating. "It's not just that. I also just…I've never been away from home for so long. I've never gone anywhere alone. It's nerve racking."

"Yeah, I get that. That's exactly how I felt the first time I went off to New York. I was about your age, and I didn't know a thing about living on my own. You just have to take it one step at a time."

"Hmm." Georgie hummed thoughtfully. "I guess so."

Lou exhaled. "And you know what I was thinking? What if…" Lou shrugged a shoulder, a smile at her lips. "What if I were to visit for a little bit? I could help you out with a few things."

Georgie's lips parted. "Oh…"

"Why the surprise? Worried your mom's going to cramp your style?" Lou laughed a little.

"No! No, nothing like that. I just didn't realize you were thinking about coming…"

"Yeah, it's been in the back of my mind for a while now." Lou said excitedly. "What do you think? Could that work?"

"How long would you be willing to stay?"

Lou shrugged a shoulder. "Well, that depends on you. However long you want me to stay, I will. It would be an adventure, you know. Mother and daughter take on Europe."

Georgie was beaming at the prospect. "Yeah, yeah. That could work."

"Then it's settled. You say the word, and I'll be there." Lou smiled at Georgie encouragingly. "So? When do you have to let Kim know?"

"I have until Tuesday to confirm."

Lou nodded. "Okay, good. You still have this weekend to think it all over. There's no rush."

"Yeah."

It became quiet for a moment or so, and then Lou stood and walked over to Georgie's closet. She pulled out the dress that hung in Georgie's wardrobe. "Did you try on your dress yet?"

"Uh, yeah…" Georgie struggled to get the words out. Mitch's wedding was tomorrow, and Georgie was supposed to attend the ceremony with everyone. She felt weird talking to her mom about it because she knew Lou wasn't over him, even though she was trying to convince everyone, especially herself, that she was.

"And it fit alright? I don't need to rush in tomorrow to get alterations done? And you like it, right? Enough to wear to the wedding?"

Lou was obsessing, Georgie could tell. She had asked so many questions that Georgie wasn't even sure if she was meant to answer them or not. "Yeah, yeah. It's fine." She stood, walking toward Lou.

"Are you sure? Because there's still a couple of dresses that you haven't really worn, and—"

"Mom."

Lou stopped and looked over. "Yeah, you're right. The dress is fine. You're going to look beautiful in it." She said wistfully as she put the dress back into the wardrobe.

"Mom?"

"Yeah."

"I don't have to go to this wedding. In fact, I was thinking—"

"No, absolutely not. You were invited, so you should go."

"Well, so were you. And you're not going." Georgie stated matter-of-fact.

"You said you would be there, so…" Lou shrugged a shoulder.

"Look, would you just talk to me—? Or if not me, then someone else."

"Talk about what? I'm over it."

"Right. Yeah." Georgie's tone came out sarcastic. "No, because when I saw you crying over that wedding invitation, that's what I thought too."

Lou sighed, looking over to the side. "Honey, would you just—"

"If you love him, then why won't you fight for him? Why have you just accepted all of this?"

"Georgie, this isn't something that you and I should be talking about."

"What, is there some rule that says we can't? Or are you just trying to avoid talking about it?"

"I'm not avoiding. I'm trying to work toward being okay with it, because this is going to be my life from now on."

"I don't get it. One minute you're over here convincing me to not give up on this Europe thing and you're making sure I don't throw it all away, and with your thing you're just…done?"

"This is different. The Europe thing is about your future, and…" Lou trailed off, unsure of where she was going with this.

When Lou didn't say anything for a while, Georgie exhaled. "I wish I could somehow fix this for you."

Lou smiled. "I know you do. But this is my mess that I have to sort out."

Georgie nodded. "So? What are you going to be doing tomorrow?"

"I don't have anything going on, so I'm just going to be looking after the girls. I might take them out to the treehouse, if they get bored from playing inside."

"Right, okay."

Before Georgie could say anything else, Lou quickly changed the subject. "Okay. I wanted to give you something."

"What is it?"

Lou walked over and picked the gift-wrapped box off the trunk and handed it to Georgie. "I was going to give this to you later on, but I just couldn't wait any longer. Here, open it."

"What's the occasion?" Georgie laughed. "It's not my birthday."

"When I found out about you going to this camp, I wanted to get you something. Because it's such a huge accomplishment, and I just got so excited. So after quite a bit of searching, I finally found this."

"Oh. I mean, you didn't have to get me something just because—"

"I know, but I wanted to. And it wasn't just about the camp. I just wanted to get this for you."

Georgie smiled, moving to sit down.

Lou did the same. "Open it." She said excitedly, eager to see Georgie's reaction.

Once Georgie unwrapped it, and opened the lid of the box, she stared at it for a quick second before breathing out. "Woah."

"Do you like it?"

"Like it? I love it, but Mom—it looks really expensive. How much was it?"

"Doesn't matter. Why don't you try it on?"

Georgie took the bracelet out of its packing, and handed it over to Lou so she could help her put it on.

Once Lou had placed it around Georgie's wrist and clicked it in place, Georgie held it up to look at it. "Mom, it's so pretty."

"Almost as pretty as you." Lou said with a smile in her voice, moving to plant a kiss on Georgie's cheek.

Before Lou could move back, Georgie hugged her mom as tight as she could. "Thank you for this."

As Lou brought her arms around Georgie, she said, "You're welcome." Lou noticed that Georgie wasn't as shaky as she had been lately, and as relieved as she was, she was even more thankful. It seemed her daughter was on the mend, and she was getting stronger day by day.

Lou knew that despite what was happening with Mitch, as long as Georgie was getting better and Lou was able to settle into a routine with her girls, she would get through it. Because although she loved Mitch, she knew how to get along without him. But her daughters were a whole other matter.

"I love you." Georgie said suddenly.

"I love you, too."


End file.
